\The cat is out of the bag by now that Britney Spears will not be back on The X Factor next season. Gee, she was doing so well, presiding over another precipitous ratings drop and all.

TMZ broke the news she is instead working on an eighth studio album, even though we don't count Blackout because that was all computers and special effects. She's supposedly working with will.i.am and producer Hit-Boy, who made N----- in Paris with Kanye West and Jay-Z.

"Britney loves Simon, she likes Demi Lovato but her thing is music," a source told teh site. Well, it's certainly not money, because she's making $15 million a year on the show. Of course, other reports say she was going to get canned anyway, because who wants to pay someone $15 million a year to not get results? It's not like she works on Wall Street.

"The producers hadn't planned for Britney to return this year," another source told Entertainment Weekly. "She did her best last season, but they have been planning a new judging line up over the holiday period and she was never going to be part of those discussions. She did her best and they had fun last year, but it's no surprise to anyone that they were all going to be parting company. It wasn't even really a conversation."

Plus, with L.A. Reid gone, the show doesn't have anyone who really knows what they're doing, anyway. It's like if you had American Idol and got rid of Simon Cowell. Oh, wait.

About the blog

Here's the latest celebrity gossip and news about actors on drugs, pop stars having babies, Hollywood stars getting married and celebrity deaths. Compiled by Lydia Harvey and the folks at tbt*, Tampa Bay's free daily newspaper, it pokes fun at celebrity gossip and those who worship it. And don't forget the amazing YouTube clips that find their way into the Juice.